First Muzychuk Sisters’ Cup

by Anna Muzychuk
8/28/2021 – “One of my biggest wishes in recent years was to host a tournament and contribute to the development of chess in our region and our country (Ukraine),” writes Anna Muzychuk. She and her younger sister Mariya, who was the 2015 Women's World Chess Champion, succeeded in holding the first Muzychuk Sisters’ Cup. Pictorial report from Anna.

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The tournament was played in the territory of Pidhirtsi estate in Pidhirtsi, a village in the Stryi district of the Lviv region. It is a picturesque landscape with a majestic castle, beautiful lake, and charming restaurants and hotels. We are very thankful to the owners of this territory who allowed us to host our event there. For me, it was very important to host the tournament in a scenic location so that it will always be remembered fondly by the participants and guests.

Pidhirtsi estate. The games were played inside this building.

The tournament hall

The idea to host the Muzychuk Sisters’ Cup was born long ago, but we took some substantial steps to hosting this tournament about two years ago. We planned to hold it in 2020. And we planned an international event. Everything was ready. The regulations were written and we had support from the local authorities. We wanted to return from the Grand Prix in Lausanne and announce our event. Instead, we had to make a completely different announcement. The day after we had returned from Switzerland, Ukraine closed its borders and air connection. So we had no choice but to postpone the competition. 

An envelope featuring the Muzychuk sisters. The redemption of the stamp took place in Lviv on July 20th 2020, on the International Chess Day.   

Back then, nobody knew how long we had to wait. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now say that it was a year and a half. Unfortunately, since the pandemic is not over, the tournament was not international but only Ukrainian.

Mariya welcomes the participants and guests

148 participants from different regions of Ukraine took part in the tournament, which was open for kids who were born in 2004 or later. 11-year-old Oleksii Karvatskyi was the winner of the competition with a perfect score of 9/9 (!). 

Oleksii Karvatskyi has already won several medals at Ukrainian and European Youth Championships. 

The tournament winners: Valentyn Prokofiev finished 2nd and Andriy Prydun was 3rd. 

There were also additional prizes for girls and boys in the age categories U9, U11 and U13. Every participant of the event received memorable souvenirs - a diploma, a key chain and chess notepad, while the winners were awarded medals, cups, diplomas and money prizes. Results and standings can be found here

Winners Girls U9: 1st place Yuliana Kovalyshyn, 2nd place Yana Marusyn, 3rd place Francheska Gubka

Winners Boys U9: 1st place Semen Velychko, 2nd place Roman Molchanov, 3rd place Zakhar Karpinets

Winners Girls U11: 1st place Vladyslava Korolchuk, 2nd place Marharyta Savenko, 3rd place Diana Skorokhid (not in picture)

Winners Boys U11: 1st place Maksym Bondarenko, 2nd place Yuriy Masnyak, 3rd place Marian Mishchuk

Winners Girls U13: 1st place Sofiya Velychko, 2nd place Olesya Zvorska, 3rd place Alina Baluh

Winners Boys U13: 1st place Maksym Dubnevych, 2nd place Dariy Koval, 3rd place Oleksandr Kasapchuk

With all the prize winners

During the battles

We cannot predict what will happen in the future, but of course we would like to host the 2nd Muzychuk Sisters’ Cup next year. We received a lot of positive feedback from the participants, their parents, the coaches and guests. And we wish to continue the tradition. Let’s hope that next year it will already be possible to host an international tournament. 

We would like to thank everyone who helped us organize this wonderful event. Special thanks to our parents who assisted in taking care of every single detail related to the organization of the competition:

Oleh and Nataliya Muzychuk 

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Anna Muzychuk is is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. She is a two-time Women's World Blitz Champion (won the titles in 2014 and 2016) and Women's World Rapid Champion (2016). In 2017 she finished second in the Women's World Chess Championship (classical format). Anna is the fourth woman, after Judit Polgar, Humpy Koneru and Hou Yifan, to cross the Elo 2600 rating mark, in July 2012.

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